Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation's newest partner, Grameen Foundation, is working in Kenya to bring agricultural loans to smallholder farmers. With help from local finance institution Musoni, Grameen Foundation is developing a loan application software that will support the sustainable growth of Kilimo Booster, a loan product tailored specifically for smallholder farmers with flexible terms and a customizable grace period based on the farmer's seasonal cash flow.

Over the course of the partnership, Grameen Foundation and Musoni will disperse $1 million in new loans to approximately 3,500 new loan recipients. Read more about this exciting new partnership here!

New Blog Series on Agrilinks Showcases Ag Technologies

Partnering for Innovation recently launched a weekly blog series featuring its partners and their technologies on Agrilinks, an online community for agricultural development professionals.

The series highlights a new partner each week, showcasing how the partner is commercializing an agricultural product or service in the smallholder market. By bringing this blog series to Agrilinks, Partnering for Innovation is exposing its partners to agricultural development practitioners in the US and around the world who are eager to learn how public private partnerships are benefiting smallholder farmers.

In 2013, Partnering for Innovation supported the introduction of Purdue Improved Crop Storage bags (PICS) in Kenya as a means to commercially address the country's significant postharvest grain losses. These hermetically-sealed bags provide chemical-free storage for smallholder farmers, who can lose up to 15 percent of their harvest to pests and rot.

This simple, affordable solution to the problem of postharvest grain loss has caught hold in Kenya, and it continues to expand with global efforts to prevent food waste. Nearly 200,000 bags were sold after two years on the market, and by the end of 2015, that number had jumped to 310,000. Partnering for Innovation connected local distributor Bell Industries with the USAID-KAVES project, which continues to buy and promote PICS bags in Kenya.

Learn more about how Partnering for Innovation, USAID-KAVES, and their local partners made this technology a success!

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